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Correct British Armour color


Bob Henry

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I have two Tamiya 1/48 scale kits ... the Tilly and the WWII Dingo. I am wondering what shade of olive drab to use. I work almost exclusively with Testors Model master enamels. One source already told me that FS 34087 wasn't too far off. I'm not opposed to adding a drop or two of some other color with an existing shade to get it pretty close. Does anyone have any ideas ? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Bob H. ( normally an airplane guy but clueless on armor )

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Both these vehicles are of British manufacture, so they would be finished in British paints (S.C.C.15 is their equivalent of US olive, introduced in 1944). If your aim is fresh paint, then it would closely match American olive - whatever hobby paint that might be. The more it aged, ie exposed to the elements, the more green it would become.

regards,

Jack

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The Tilly would be fairly rare in SCC15, because jeeps were widely available and better. It would be much more interesting in some of the earlier colours. For a guide to those see Mike Starmer's work http://www.mafva.net/other%20pages/Starmer%20camo.htm, his books do include colour chips.

I believe that SCC15 is one of those colours not well represented in model paints. FS34087 might be a bit too green, not enough olive. As most of the various tins of US OD in my possession seem a little too green to my eye, you might do better by following JackG's advice.

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The Tilly would be fairly rare in SCC15, because jeeps were widely available and better. It would be much more interesting in some of the earlier colours. For a guide to those see Mike Starmer's work http://www.mafva.net/other%20pages/Starmer%20camo.htm, his books do include colour chips.

I believe that SCC15 is one of those colours not well represented in model paints. FS34087 might be a bit too green, not enough olive. As most of the various tins of US OD in my possession seem a little too green to my eye, you might do better by following JackG's advice.

Thanks Graham for the link that you posted. I will definitely print it off and keep it in my "Top Secret" 3 ring binder !! It is loaded with good information. And Jack, now I have to figure out if there is a Testors Model Master equivalent for the US Olive introduced in 1944. Would you happen to know a FS equivalent ? Just curious. I still may consider one of the earlier schemes and use one of the mixes on the above referenced link .. or maybe one for each vehicle. Bob

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The link provided for Starmer's research gives the Humbrol mix for S.C.C.15, and I've seen on another forum, his recipe for Tamiya paints. Unfortunately, nothing in the Testors range, nor an FS equivalent. All I can suggest is an olive colour that is more green than brown.

Here is what I came up with when I used the Tamiay formula on my Firefly,

5 prts XF81

1 prt XF58

1 prt 71

11177730245_f8b34f5844_b.jpg

Interesting note, I then took the above image and loaded it as a sample colour here: http://scalemodeldb.com/paint

Using an eyedroper tool and zeroed in on the rear bin, the closest FS match was 34089, but was a bit more yellow than the tank image. it also was 12.88 units away form a direct match to my mix. A result of 2 or less is considered a good match.

regards,

Jack

Edited by JackG
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The link provided for Starmer's research gives the Humbrol mix for S.C.C.15, and I've seen on another forum, his recipe for Tamiya paints. Unfortunately, nothing in the Testors range, nor an FS equivalent. All I can suggest is an olive colour that is more green than brown.

Here is what I came up with when I used the Tamiay formula on my Firefly,

5 prts XF81

1 prt XF58

1 prt 71

11177730245_f8b34f5844_b.jpg

Interesting note, I then took the above image and loaded it as a sample colour here: http://scalemodeldb.com/paint

Using an eyedroper tool and zeroed in on the rear bin, the closest FS match was 34089, but was a bit more yellow than the tank image. it also was 12.88 units away form a direct match to my mix. A result of 2 or less is considered a good match.

regards,

Jack

Thanks Jack. I can obtain the Humbrol enamels at a local hobby shop so that might be a workable option. Thanks for the additional link. Bob

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  • 3 weeks later...

Anyone tried the DOA paints? Website claims they are matched to Mike Starmer chips.

No affiliation.

Vedran

The milimeter brigade

I just viewed the website. It looks interesting. Thanks for posting. Bob H.

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Yes, I have that, but it isn't one of your more accurate ones. I base this on Mike Starmer's comments.

Regardless of the merits of the Colour Coats, I would have expected any new range devoted to British Army colours to treat SCC15 as a high priority. Generally the late war subjects are more popular than the earlier ones. Models of BEF (and even early desert) AFVs/vehicles are much rarer than late-war examples. It is possible to argue that modellers who buy specialist paints are the same people who buy specialist subjects, but that does imply a strong correlation which might not be true, and a producer would, I'd have thought, wish to sell into the wider market too.

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  • 5 months later...

Hataka now is offering a S.C.C. No. 15 Olive Drab (HTK-A110). I would be grateful for sharing opinion about its accuracy.

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Here's a very simple Vallejo mix for SCC15 , attributed to Alan Brown

Mix equal parts of 70888 Olive Grey [92] + 70924 Russian Uniform WWII [094]

I used this mix on an Airfix Cromwell & was very happy with the result .

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Here's a very simple Vallejo mix for SCC15 , attributed to Alan Brown

Mix equal parts of 70888 Olive Grey [92] + 70924 Russian Uniform WWII [094]

I used this mix on an Airfix Cromwell & was very happy with the result .

Thanks rs2man, I did the Vallejo mix and had it confirmed against Mike Starmers paint swatches, it practically disappeared.

Alan Brown

Edited by Shermaniac
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Thanks rs2man, I did the Vallejo mix and had it confirmed against Mike Starmers paint swatches, it practically disappeared.

Alan Brown

Thanks to you for doing a mix so simple that even I had success with it .

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  • 3 months later...

I need approx. 25 litres of SCC15 to paint a Sherman VC (in a couple of years time)... will probably need to find a paint manufacturer to do the mix for this amount... but, would be grateful for confirmation whose paint gives the best match so I can use this as a sample to base from.

Thanks

Tim

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By strange coincidence, I just had a customer buy a substantial quantity from us in bigger tins of SCC15 for a purpose somewhat larger than our normal model sizes! :speak_cool:

(and yes it's substantially cheaper in bulk than it is in 14ml tinlets!)

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By strange coincidence, I just had a customer buy a substantial quantity from us in bigger tins of SCC15 for a purpose somewhat larger than our normal model sizes! :speak_cool:

(and yes it's substantially cheaper in bulk than it is in 14ml tinlets!)

Have ordered a couple of small pots from you so I can paint a sample and see what it looks like compared to some of the other restorations.

Can you pm me with your 5 litre price please?

Thanks

Tim

Edited by Shermanvc
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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's a very simple Vallejo mix for SCC15 , attributed to Alan Brown

Mix equal parts of 70888 Olive Grey [92] + 70924 Russian Uniform WWII [094]

I used this mix on an Airfix Cromwell & was very happy with the result .

Cheers for this - have just mixed a full bottle of each as I have a lot of WW2 British armour to paint and the results look promising!

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